PRIESTHOOD
PRIESTHOOD
JMcF Why are all the vessels described before we come to the consecration of the priests?
JT I suppose the order of things with which priesthood is connected must exist before you have the priest to carry on the service. Certain things come in afterwards, such as the golden altar, the altar of incense.
JMcF Yes; they are not described in the first part of it.
JT No, they come in to chapter 30.
Rem You must have the means to approach, before you can approach.
Ques Would not the means to approach refer more particularly to the altar?
JT Well, it does; and therefore you have the altar in chapter 27. I think the brazen altar is the great feature as regards approach; that is, if man, as such, is to approach. If a priest is to approach, it is in connection with the golden altar. So that the priesthood really comes in between the brazen altar and the golden altar. If a man from the camp is to approach, the brazen altar is the great feature; so it is the main thought, in that respect, in Leviticus. If man is to draw near to God, he has to say to Him primarily at the brazen altar.
Rem That just takes you to the court.
JT Yes. What meets you at the outset in drawing near to God, is the thought that sin must be judged. That is what God impresses us with on entering into His sphere. The first great thing is the brazen altar; God signifying that sin must be judged. We can only be with Him on those terms. But then, the golden altar is for the priest’s approach. I think that passing the brazen altar we touch priesthood. But things are often defective on the line of [p. 139] priesthood, for the reason that the truth implied in the brazen altar is not generally accepted. Sin must be judged if we have to say to God at all.
Rem There must be a foundation laid in our souls.
JT Yes; otherwise we never really reach priesthood in our souls; we never take up our functions if sin is not rightly judged.
JMcF When you say sin must be judged, that goes further than sins forgiven.
JT Quite so; it is the complete removal of the man that sinned; because the sin offering implied that.
WK It would be a great thing if people had Leviticus 4 in their souls; that is to say, to understand the meaning of the carcase of the sin offering burnt, not on the altar, but outside the camp, where the ashes are poured out. If people apprehended that in their souls, they would be capable of taking up priestly functions. You are going in where God is. It is not God coming out to where you are; I mean in the type of the golden altar. I am sure what you say is true, that the defect lies in not apprehending the truth of the brazen altar. Anyone would be glad to accept that they were forgiven; but to feel that what you have done, the sins that you have committed, are so heinous in the sight of God, that the man who had committed those sins must be consumed to ashes, for he never could come into the presence of God.
JT The brazen altar measured five cubits long and five cubits broad, and it was three cubits high; and it was overlaid with brass. These are features that have to be noticed. God met man there; it was man’s condition; it was human measure; and it refers to Christ bearing sins publicly; really, we may say, between heaven and earth. There it was that God judged sin; and it was a standing thing;
[p. 140] it was there permanently. So that if a man has to say to God, that is what confronts him. Directly you want to have to say to God, what confronts you is that God must judge sin; and Leviticus is that you put your hand on the head of the offering; you identify yourself with your sacrifice, as offered on that altar. The golden altar, on the other hand, was one cubit in length and one cubit in breadth. What the one cubit suggests is unity. It is the place of the priest’s approach; it is a place of prayer; and it is a place of intercession. I believe that the great source of weakness among the saints is that the truth of the brazen altar, the judgment of sin, is not accepted.
Rem Directly you enter the court of the tabernacle the brazen altar confronts you. It is sin dealt with sacrificially. It is not sin judged at the great white throne; it is what God has done with sin in Christ.
JT An understanding of Psalm 22 forms the true basis in our souls. There is the sin bearer; the One who was made sin, and yet infinitely precious to God in it. He cries from the depths, and He says, “thou art holy, thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel”.
Ques The height of the brazen altar is three cubits: what does that signify?
JT The number three is usually complete testimony; hence death and resurrection; “the third day he shall rise again”. I think that in Christ as the Sin-bearer, is a testimony to inherent power of life, hence resurrection; and yet answering to man’s weakness, for He was crucified in weakness; five is the symbol of weakness.
Rem So we see in that, as you were saying, the One who was in the fullest way under judgment, as entering into man’s condition, and yet at the same time is precious to [p. 141] God.
JT Yes. I do not think God could be glorified at the great white throne as He was in the cross. In the sacrifice there is the judgment of sin infinitely; “thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel”. Christ, according to His own infinite being, recognised what was due to God in sin-bearing; so that sin is judged according to God in the brazen altar. We may judge sin, and the more we judge sin, the more we love Christ; but we never judge it infinitely; we never judge it as God judges it; we could not from the very nature of our being. We judge it comparatively; some judge it more than others; and the more we judge sin, the more we love Christ; to whom much is forgiven the same loveth much. So I suppose the apostle Paul judged sin more than any of us; but then, he did not judge it infinitely. Sin has been judged vicariously; it has been judged in the Person who bore it; that is to say, the Lord’s mind was exactly God’s mind when sin was removed.
Rem I suppose according to the measure of our apprehension of sin, we judge it in ourselves.
JT I doubt very much whether anyone ever judges sin without the Lord’s support; the Lord helps us to judge it.
Ques Speaking of the great white throne, do you mean the judgment there refers to what is merely objective?
JT There is really no adequate estimate of sin as Jesus had it. No doubt the consciences of the lost admit the justice of the verdict. We cannot over estimate the importance of the judgment of sin in the brazen altar.
Rem If those who appear before the great white throne accepted that, they would not be there.
JT I think everyone consigned to eternal punishment will own that God is justified in what [p. 142] He does. But then, it is another matter to say that they have a just estimate of sin.
WK They weep, and gnash their teeth; which is quite the opposite idea.
JT The necessity for judging sin is not generally accepted amongst the saints, and hence the weakness in the priesthood.
Rem There cannot be prosperity of soul until these things are really accepted.
JT I think not.
Ques What do you mean by the weakness of the priesthood?
JT I mean that we are not in the acceptance of priestly privilege. Every believer is a priest from the divine point of view, but we have to reach it in our souls; and in order to do that we have to pass the brazen altar in our soul’s apprehension. Exodus 28 opens up the subject of priesthood; and nothing can be more interesting. You have the dress of the priest; and whilst Aaron’s sons are associated with him in the priesthood, we can easily perceive that the Spirit of God is mainly occupied with Christ. We come in at the end of the chapter; indeed, we are in view all the way through; but the great central thought in the chapter is the high priest, and his dress.
Rem Referring to Christ as High Priest. He is the One in whom sin has been infinitely judged.
JT Quite so. He is the victim. He is the sacrifice, and then He is also the Priest. “Take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel”. The first thing that strikes you is that it is a man taken from among men; that is the priest. You do not get the thought in Moses of the apostle being taken from among men. The apostle comes out from God, but the priest is taken from among men.
[p. 143] Rem I suppose the apostle would be seen more in the setting up of the tabernacle.
JT And the priest is to maintain the service in it.
WK “Every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way”; and then the apostle adds, “for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity”, Hebrews 5:1, 2.
JT The idea there is that the high priest is taken from among men; hence he is on man’s side, and is therefore sympathetic. That is not the thought in the apostle. The apostle is on God’s side.
WK To make Him known.
JT Yes.
JMcF And I suppose you have the idea of the apostle up to this chapter?
JT Yes; it was almost entirely that up to this chapter; but here you have a man taken out from among the others, and marked off by this peculiar dress. Hence it is a wholly new man in the antitype; a different order of man; because the blue refers to the Lord’s humanity. He is a heavenly Man. A man with a robe like this, complete in one piece, is a man of another order. The Lord historically had His part among men; but it came to light that He was of another order; that is to say, He was a heavenly Man.
Ques Do you speak of the whole garment being blue?
JT Yes, the robe of the ephod; there were divers colours in the ephod, but the robe of blue has reference to the Lord’s humanity; who He was.
Rem It is a very beautiful description of the garments; “holy garments for glory and for beauty”.
JMcF Is the thought in “garments for glory and for beauty” the same as we get in Hebrews; “crowned with glory and honour?”
JT Yes, in some sense. The thing to lay hold of is, that there was a Man here among men capable of entering into their sorrows and their exercises; and it came to light that He was a heavenly Man, really the second Man out of heaven; but a Man with a heart capable of taking in all the saints. The high priest had the saints on his shoulders, in the two stones; and he had the saints on his heart, in the twelve stones. Hence I doubt very much if we ever touch priesthood subjectively until we love the brethren. That is one of the best evidences of the priest, whether he has the saints on his shoulder and on his breast. If you love the saints, you support them according to your measure; that is the shoulder. So that a man is marked off as a priest in that way; and the saints take account of him.
Rem Affection and support are what mark him.
JT There is no value in talking about love if you do not put your hand in your pocket. The great thing is to show your affection; and you show your affection by the support that you give.
Rem The twelve tribes were represented on the breastplate.
JT Meaning that all the saints are there. Each tribe had its precious stone, meaning, that in the Lord’s heart each saint has his name.
WK Collectively on the shoulders; and individually on the breastplate.
JT What comes out in Revelation 12 is that when the Lord enters heaven there is warfare; and the secret of it really is that He entered heaven as a Priest; and immediately there is an anti-priest, “the accuser of our brethren”. The Lord intercedes for the saints; so that the issue is really between the affection that Christ has for the saints, and the [p. 145] hatred that Satan has for them. These two things cannot exist in heaven — the love of Christ, and the hatred of Satan. So Satan is cast out. The Lord is the champion of the saints, and the end of the war is that Satan is cast out of heaven: “the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before God day and night”. It is a terrible thing to be an accuser of the brethren.
Rem That is Satan’s work.
JT Yes. It is a very touching thing that the saints, in that way, became the occasion of the war. The Lord espouses our cause, He champions the saints, and this chapter shows us the place we have in His heart.
JMcF If we love the brethren, it shows we have come under the influence of the priest.
JT You want to seek the company of priests, to seek a company that love one another. So we find a beautiful touch in the end of Romans. Paul, speaking of Phoebe says, “I commend unto you Phoebe our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea; that ye receive her in the Lord, as becometh saints, and that ye assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you; for she hath been a succourer of many, and of myself also”. As in the meeting she was to be supported.
WK “Whatsoever she hath need of”; that injunction goes a long way.
JT In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians we find the same thing. He says, “Ye are our epistle written in our hearts; known and read of all men”.
Ques The stones in the breastplate were precious. Will you say a word about that?
JT I think it shows the intense interest that the Priest had in them; the preciousness of the saints to Him, that they should be engraved [p. 146] there.
Rem I suppose permanency is shown in it.
JMcF His own perfection as a Man would be presented in all that.
JT The more the light shines on the breastplate, the more the names appear. You can understand the Lord interceding. He received the Spirit for the saints; that was the first great intercession. He says, “I will beg the Father, and he will give you another Comforter, that he may be with you for ever”, John 14: 16. That showed the place they had with Him; and following upon that you have the idea of warfare. Satan accuses the brethren day and night, Revelation 12.
Rem How precious that we have a place on His shoulders.
JT You remember what was said of Benjamin “The beloved of the Lord he shall dwell in safety by him; he will cover him all the day long”. We are supported by infinite strength.
Rem The Shepherd puts the lost sheep on his shoulders. In Isaiah we read that “the government shall be upon his shoulder”.
JT We can see that the whole weight of the support of the saints is on Christ.
Rem How it magnifies the greatness of His Person!
Ques What is the thought in priesthood?
JT Well, I think we have it indicated here; “that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office”. It is what Christ is doing. It is what the servant of the Lord carries on Godward; and, as we have been seeing, it involves that the saints are sustained for God.
Ques Would it refer in a special way to Lord’s day morning?
JT Well, I think priesthood has a very wide bearing. When we come to the book of Leviticus you have a very wide sphere; there it is the sanctuary,
[p. 147] but in the book of Numbers you have the priest in regard to the Levites’ service. Then we read later on, in Malachi, that the priest’s lips should keep knowledge; so that he was to teach the people. But the primary thought is that approach is equal to the revelation. That has been often mentioned; but I think what ought to be borne in mind is that the equality of the approach has reference to what Christ is personally: it does not refer to us; we could not compass full revelation. We have part in the approach, but it is as having part with Christ; so we read in Hebrews 10, “and having a great Priest over the house of God, let us approach with a true heart”. He knows God perfectly; the One who approaches is equal to God; that is where equality lies, it is in the Person of Christ; it is the same Person that has revealed God that approaches God.
Rem And such an High Priest became us.
JT Yes; and what a place we have. “Holy, harmless, undefiled, separated from sinners”. I think it must be infinitely gratifying to God to see man as in Christ approach Him. Approach is to God and God delights in it. What meets the eye of God is the breastplate. That is to say, the Man that approaches is a Man that loves; he loves the saints.
In Zechariah we read: “he shall build the temple of the Lord and shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne; and the counsel of peace shall be between them both”; chapter 6: 13. That is, between God and the Priest; there is a perfect equality between God and the Priest; and I believe it all lies morally in that there is the love of God seen in a Man.
Ques Would you kindly say a word about verse 15, “the breastplate of judgment”.
JT Judgment is according to love. Judgment is not based on anything else. There is a good deal [p. 148] taught on that line in the last chapter of Leviticus; where, if one make’s a vow, it should be valued according to Moses’ estimation; and then afterwards according to the estimation of the priest; and it would be according to the shekel of the sanctuary. As a matter of fact, everything is judged according to the balances of the sanctuary; that is where we arrive at the true estimate of things.
WK That is, in God’s presence.
JT You get a true estimate of things there. There is not a man in the world who has a true estimate of things, unless he has been in the sanctuary.
WK It is remarkable there was such particularity about getting exact measure and weight.
JT Any vow you make is estimated according to the shekel of the sanctuary. The brethren may under-estimate you, or over-estimate you; but in the sanctuary everything is rightly estimated. It is very comforting.
WK What is the point in the breastplate being four-square, and a span long and a span broad?
JT Square is usually taken to mean universality. It takes in all creation.
WK And then the span; would that refer to a man?
JT A man’s measure, I suppose.
Ques What is the thought of glory and beauty in connection with the holy garments, in the second verse?
JT It refers to God’s glory in a Man. It is what God sees in Christ as on our side. From God’s side He is “the effulgence of his glory, and the expression of his substance”. That is what is stated of Christ as a Man; that is what He is from God. He sets forth what God is towards us; but then, as Man towards God, there is perfect beauty there.